Sorry for the Survivor reference, but now that all the riff-raff are out, it’s time to get down to business.

I missed a week, despite some time off. Here’s a snapshot of what Week 16-17 was going to look like.

The Eagles suddenly aren’t looking invincible anymore

Hope you didn’t bet on the Eagles game, their spread was 9.5. Scored a flukey TD at the end of the game to go up 9, and then kneeled during the extra point to be sportsmen. That’s a bad beat!

2 TD’s got called back against the Bills using the stupid catch rule. Go figure it was the Patriots who benefited

Interesting situation in the NFC, where you almost want the 4th seed so if you win the first game you play the Wentz-less Eagles. Both the Panthers and Saints will be fighting for the NFC South, so one of them wants to win to get a home game. So if you’re the Rams, I think resting your starters and letting Garrapolo go 5-0 as a 49er makes perfect sense.

I’m not going to make any more player predictions the rest of this year. In back to back weeks, I’ve made bold predictions about Adrian Peterson (who was put on IR the next week) and Antonio Brown (who will miss the next 2 games).

There are obviously two games to talk about as the back to back endings were two of the best this year. Both included rules that fans absolutely hate and the NFL should look at this offseason. Both included teams that went for it all when they were guaranteed a FG to take it into overtime.

The Race for 1st:

The Steelers were up and not dominating but steadily beating the Patriots in every aspect of the game. The Patriots score to seemingly tie it at 17, but the extra point is no good! Pittsburgh scores to go up 8, and it stays 24-16 deep into the 4th. The Patriots are forced to kick a FG with 3:56 left in the game to bring it to within 5. Steelers go 3 and out, and then New England marches 77 yards in 1:10 in an amazing drive which basically only featured Gronkowski. They make a 2pt conversion to go up 3. Taking a step back, I along with Steeler nation was utterly surprised that all of a sudden the Patriots were ahead. Watching the 2nd half, it truly felt like Pittsburgh was in control and going to win until the final 4 minutes, so we were all pretty much shocked. They scored 11 points in exactly 3 minutes. Continue Reading

I’m back! And I feel like I missed a lot! I’m not going to dive back into Week 5 much, but the Browns and 49ers are still losing, the Raiders are apparently faltering, and Big Ben had a 5 INT game?!?! I guess Bradford came back and tried to play too? Ahhhhhh!

Le’veon Me Alone!

The one downside to being such a huge football fan is that I’m rarely in awe anymore. But watching the Steelers game had my mouth agape. It literally seemed like everytime Bell was handed the ball, he got a minimum of 7 yards, if not closer to 15. That’s insane as it is, let alone in a league where the run game is dying. They even ran the ball on 3rd and 9, and got the first down! The most telling was the first play after halftime. Tony Romo said something to the effect of “the Chiefs would have gone into halftime and come up with a gameplan to stop the run. Look at how many people they have in the box right now.” Indeed it was stacked, and Bell got through it for a gain of 15.

Stat of the Week #1:

In the Rams Jaguars game, it was the 1st time in NFL history with 2 TD’s within the first 25 seconds of a game. The Rams ran back the opening kickoff, kicked a touchback, and then Fournette ran 75 yards on the first play.

Last season was the season of comebacks. I’m already sensing a theme this year which is the season of surprise wins. Last week had 10 underdogs take it in one of Vegas’ most lucrative weekends. This week we had Rams beat Cowboys in Dallas, Bills beat Falcons, Panthers over Patriots in New England, and Texans with 57 points over Titans. I really don’t remember back to back weeks where I looked at the scoreboard to 5+ “wows.”

Surprise Records too!

The Bills and Rams are alone in 1st place in their division. Keep in mind these are divisions who have the Patriots (in 3 of the last 6 Super Bowls) and Seahawks (in 2 of the last 4 Super Bowls).

I’m back, wow, Season 7 of Friday Morning Quarterback! Expect a few changes this year, fewer dissertations and more quick hitting fun facts. We all watch the games, I don’t need to turn into Joe Buck 2.0 and explain what happened. I know I promised to go back to the goofy team names last year, and like Digiorno I didn’t deliver. So I’ll try again folks!

Quick Recap from Last year’s Predictions

The Good:

Predicted Packers Patriots Super Bowl. Got one right, the second lost in the NFC Championship

“Last year as starting QB for Jay Cutler (I’ve held onto him too long)”…I was close until he was yanked out of retirement

Picked 6 of 32 records dead on

Picked both Offensive and Defensive rookies of the year, that’s a first!

Predicted the QB controversy in Dallas, said Dak would keep the starting job

Said Jared Goff would get and keep the starting job in Week 9, happened in Week 10!

The Bad

“Blake Bortles is a top 5 QB in either yards or TD’s.” Nope, #15 in both

“RGIII sees a resurgence this year before getting injured at the end of the season. Comeback player of the year.” Call it a push, his resurgence (if you want to call it that) essentially came in preseason but he got hurt way too early.

“Kelvin Benjamin is back with a vengeance. Top 5 receiver in the league” He showed promise, but was 31st in yards, 16th in TDs

Well we got rid of all the riff-raff (well mostly, sorry Texans). Sort of a rough week of games, really none were super competitive minus the 1st half of the Giants and Packers game. All 4 home teams won, and yours truly went 3-1 in picks, with the only miss-step on thinking the Lions would actually put up a fight. The weekend can be summed up in one run-on sentence. Bill O’Brien has been to the playoffs with 3 different QB’s has still won 2 playoff games, the Lions can’t win a playoff game on the road, Matt Moore got smoked worse than the Dolphins did, and Aaron Rodgers is the deadliest weapon in the game. We should have a better slate this week at least! Every game is a rematch from earlier in the year.

Seattle at Atlanta– Rematch of earlier this season, when Seattle won 26-24 on a questionable pass interference call. This could be an interesting game, you could really see it as a Seattle rout, an Atlanta rout, or a very close game. Reminds you of the 2012 game where Russell Wilson came onto the scene, and nearly had a huge comeback win in Atlanta. Once again, depends on which Seattle team shows up. I see the score flipping, and Falcons win 26-24 (on a missed Steven Haushka game winning kick).

Wild Card Weekend tends to be the best of the playoffs. Unfortunately this year there are enough teams with QB uncertainty that it’s taking a bit of the wind out of my sails. You still have to watch, but I think you could skip both AFC matchups and not miss anything.

Stat of the Week:

Tom Brady was tied for the 7th most TD passes, despite missing a quarter of the season

Stat of the Week:

Matt Ryan had the 5th highest passer rating in a season, ever

Stat of the Week:

Sam Bradford had the highest completion percentage in a season, ever

Stat of the Week:

TY Hilton led the league in receiving yards, and LaGarrett Blount led with 18 rushing TD’s.

Stat of the Week:

There were 12 1000 yard rushers this year, vs. only 7 last year

Stat of the Week:

There have been 9 seasons where a QB has thrown for 5000+ yards, and Drew Brees has 5 of them

Stat of the Week:

Brady with 28 TD’s and 2 INT’s

For the Record:

There is legitimately no clear cut MVP this year. You can pick Brady, Ryan, Rodgers, Elliot, Carr or Brees and be ok but also have a lot of upset fans

The Browns very nearly ended the season with a 2 game winning streak

The Titans and Buccaneers, with 2 young QB’s, will be teams to watch next year

Both Super Bowl teams did indeed miss the playoffs

I don’t think Chip Kelly got a fair shake in SF. He inherited a terrible team, and they cut him after a year

Still think the Vikings made a mistake in trying to save their season. A 1st and a 4th is too high a price for an 8-8 season and a QB controversy next year

Au Revior Steve Smith, Robert Mathis, and Chris Berman. Football won’t be the same on Sunday’s

Wild Card Preview:

Raiders at Texans:

Brock Osweiler vs. Connor Cook, no thanks! Technically it’s backup QB vs 3rd string QB, yuck. I braved the worst game of the season, watching the Bengals and Texans duke it out. For the first time in a long time, I have zero desire to watch a playoff game. Now watch, since I said that it’s going to be an awesome back and forth contest with a Hail Mary to win it. Either way, I might stick to the highlights on this one. Raiders 10, Texans 12.

Dolphins at Steelers:

Was a good matchup earlier in the season. The Dolphins’ 6 game win streak started with their win over the Steelers, a game where Ajayi ran 204 yards. I could be overlooking Matt Moore, who’s led the team to a 2-1 record since Tannehill went down. But I think this could be a tough game to watch too, with no way the Dolphins run game keeps up with the Steelers offense. Steelers 38, Dolphins 10

Lions at Seahawks:

People are overlooking this game, but I think it could be the best one of the weekend. It really depends on which Seattle team shows up. Is it the one that lost to the Rams/Cardinals, or the one who beat the Patriots? The other thing we learned is that the Lions are NEVER out of a game. This is my upset pick of the weekend, with the Lions winning (with a missed Haushka field goal) 24-21.

Giants at Packers:

Both Giants Super Bowl wins involved wins at Lambeau Field, but the Packers may be hot enough to melt the frozen tundra. Despite not being as cold as the infamous NFC Championship game, this will still be a Football lovers football game. The Giants are another team that is very hit and miss. They took down the infallible Cowboys twice, but that Eagles loss was killer and they barely beat the Rams, Bengals, and Bears. I think Green Bay stays hot and win it 35-17.

Playoff Fact:

The Patriots are essentially guaranteed to make the AFC Championship this year. They can only play the Dolphins, Texans, or Raiders (none with their starting QB) in the Divisional Round.

Playoff Fact #2:

The Steelers and Packers are entering the playoffs with 6 and 7 game win streaks respectively. This is the first time in NFL history that 2 teams with that long of a winning streak have entered the tournament.

Defense Wins Championships:

The top 2 defenses in regards to points allowed are….Giants and Patriots

photo credit nfl.com

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About FMQB

FMQB is a blog for football fans, by a football fan. Each week I try to show some insights into several games and interesting statistics while also bringing humor to the mix. Join me for some fun by taking a quick break every week to re-live the best game in the world.